Malaria has a tremendous impact on human health, killing millions annually, and the disease is a major impediment for social and economic development of nations in malaria-endemic areas, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (Sachs & Malaney (2002) Nature 415:680-85). Malaria infection begins when the Anopheline female injects infective sporozoites into the mammalian host. Sporozoites travel through different cells before settling into their final host hepatocyte. The sporozoite moves into a parasitophorous vacuole created by invagination of the hepatocyte plasma membrane. Inside this compartment the sporozoite transforms into a liver stage. The liver stage grows rapidly and undergoes multiple rounds of nuclear division. The mature liver stage releases thousands of merozoites that will establish red blood cell infection. Liver stages are predicted to express many different proteins, some possibly unique to this stage, but only few of those unique molecules have been identified so far. Identification of liver stage-specific molecules is important because the infected hepatocyte has been established as the primary target of the sterile protective immune response in the radiation attenuated sporozoite vaccine model and recently in the genetically attenuated sporozoite vaccine model (reviewed in Matuschewski (2006) Curr. Op. Immunol. 18:1-9). In addition, liver stage molecules that can be detected in human diagnostic sample may be useful for diagnosing early stage malaria.
There is a need in the art for vaccines that protect against malaria infection and disease. There is also a need in the art for diagnostic markers for malaria. The present invention addresses these needs and others.